Microsoft plans to sell basic virus protection / Customers also can use Windows OneCare subscription service to combat spyware

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, May 14, 2005

Microsoft Corp. plans to sell basic protection against viruses and spyware as a subscription service, the company said Friday.

Windows OneCare, which the Redmond, Wash., software giant distributed to employees this week for testing, would help users stay on top of a computer's overall health by providing automatic updates of antivirus software.

It would also carry out maintenance chores that many users don't do, such as backing up data and defragmenting the hard drive. A beta version will be available to the public later this year, Microsoft said.

The softwaremaker did not say how much it will charge for the service.

The move puts Microsoft in direct competition with the two Bay Area companies that dominate the consumer PC security business: Cupertino's Symantec, maker of Norton Internet Security products, and Santa Clara's McAfee.

Both companies say they are ready to compete with Microsoft. The news came as no surprise, because Microsoft has been quietly acquiring antivirus and security technology from other companies.

McAfee has offered antivirus protection as a service, charging about $35 a year, for the past four years. In fact, that service is bundled with premium subscriptions to Microsoft's MSN Internet service.

McAfee President Gene Hodges said the biggest concern most observers have with competition from Microsoft is the price pressure the larger company might bring to the industry. But he said McAfee can take it, no matter what price Microsoft sets.

Shares of Symantec were up 3.9 percent to close at $19.27 Friday. Shares of McAfee were down 1.4 percent to close at $24.91. Microsoft closed at $25.30, down 1.2 percent.

Some computer users balked at the idea of paying Microsoft to protect them from the exploitation of flaws in its own Windows operating system.

"It's a bit like a car company selling you a car and then renting you seatbelts and airbags," wrote Barak Kassar, of San Francisco, in an e-mail.

After years of seeing the Windows operating system and other Microsoft software exploited by virus writers and hackers, Microsoft founder Bill Gates -- in a now-famous 2002 e-mail to employees -- called for a new focus on "trustworthy computing," which includes building more-secure software.

The company has gotten mixed reviews for its progress in this initiative.